i remember when i updated my blog...

To Whom it May Concern,

I'm kind of surprised that you, whoever you are, are still reading this blog. Because Lord knows that I'm not very good at posting on it apparently.

As for my updates, lots of work. Lots and lots of work. I have now (somewhat) successfully written the first draft of my first 20 page paper in Arabic. While the language used is probably more appropriate for the medium of crayon on construction paper than typed and printed, it has been completed. I am proud.

In celebration of this (well, not really, but I'm celebrating it), all of us (i.e. the 9 people I see all the time) are heading to Madaba this weekend for a night of R&R. To a surprisingly nice hotel. So yeah, Holy Land round 2.

Other updates that I thought people should know: what Arabic television is like.

1) Ton of Cash. This is my favorite gameshow idea ever. In order to win a "ton of cash" the two teams of contestants literally just carry a ton of cash around obstacle courses in the same remote desert beach locale each episode. They don't really ever do anything new. Just move the money from place A to place B, then kick someone off. It kind of reminds me of the Phantom Tollbooth with the Demon of Trivial Tasks, who assigns them to move piles of sand with tweezers 5 feet away, then back. This show is pretty much the same thing. Which is an amazing punishment for people who want to be on reality television. Note: this show is really boring to actually watch.

2) Public Service Announcements: Abu Dhabi television has launched a new PSA campaign that air all the time. They all tend to show a group of 20-something, laughing Arab women gathered in a house around a copious amount of tea, pastries, sweets, etc. Then the maid walks in and starts laughing with them. They all stop laughing, glare at her, and she returns to the kitchen, where she begins to cry while scrubbing the floor. The voiceover then reads an ayat from the Qur'an to us about how all life should be respected, then the campaign's slogan comes on: "Maids are people too." After recent accusations of Abu Dhabi citizens virtually enslaving their Filipino or Indonesian maids, this is probably a good idea. It's still a very weird commercial message to encounter. Especially because it looks like an ad for a soap opera.